


Show Me Love

by mt_lyfe



Series: The Domestic Life of A Dragon [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Courting Rituals, Crack Treated Seriously, Don't copy to another site, Dragon Stiles Stilinski, Getting Together, M/M, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Werewolf Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25287031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mt_lyfe/pseuds/mt_lyfe
Summary: Come witness the courting dance between the domesticated North American Werewolf and a European dragon.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: The Domestic Life of A Dragon [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804507
Comments: 33
Kudos: 480





	Show Me Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [churkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/churkey/gifts).



> This is for **churkey**. *Throws random fic out to random citizen* Here's something random before you go poof after your surgery. I hope you have a smooth recovery. Sorry about the ending, you mentioned you didn't like hands. (So much for trying to tone down my stalker tendencies. I swear I'm not trying to be creepy.) You can totally tell me to take your name off this if you don't want it, because yes this is a random stranger on the internet. Can be seen as a creeper.
> 
> The disclaimer here is that I have the same emotional capacity as a rock. Which is none. How do I even write romance?
> 
> This is a standalone piece in this series

Derek came in that morning to find someone had left donuts on his desk. No message or anything. He was new to the precinct and wasn’t close to anyone yet, except for the budding friendship between him and Jordan Parrish because they were both were-creatures—Jordan being a Hellhound and Derek being a Werewolf. They weren’t mortal enemies, so it was something that looked vaguely like friendship. He shrugged that thought away thinking that someone in the station was trying to play nice. He took a bite, strawberry-jelly. His favourite. How did they know?

  
It was that same day he saw the Sheriff’s son for the first time when he came by the station to drop off lunch for his father. He was laughing with a group of the older deputies who gathered around him to ask him about college. He was a familiar sight around the station; the old timers having watched him grow up.

  
He was constantly fiddling with something like he could never really stay still. A coin, a key chain, a pen or—wait that looked familiar. It was his favourite fountain pen!

  
He looked back at his desk to find that yes, it was indeed missing and now in the hands of a gremlin known as his boss’ son. Not a good first impression. Even if he did look irresistible.

  
***

  
The next day his coffee mug became the unsuspecting victim. There was a hazelnut coffee sitting where his mug used to be.  
“Jordan? Did you take my mug by mistake?”

  
“The hell would I do with your mug? Just because we’re both of the canine variety doesn’t mean I want anything to do with your drool,” he jokes.

  
The mug was red and had a black wolf on it along with the phrase “I will howl for coffee.” A joke from his sisters for starting this new job. He’d balked at the blatant wolf joke but secretly he was very fond of it.

  
Then he saw it at the water cooler. Or more specifically in the hands of a certain brat who definitely noticed him watching from afar and winked as he took a sip from his red mug. It was still his favourite mug even if the station’s coffee was shit. He sipped his I-stole-your-mug-but-here-is-the-replacement coffee while he glared daggers at the thief. It tasted delicious.

  
John who’d saw Derek glaring at his son, rubbed the bridge of his nose and walked away.

  
***

  
The next time it happened, Derek found a red hoodie draped over his chair just as Stiles was parading out of the Sheriff’s office with his leather jacket draped over his shoulders. Derek growled.

  
The Sheriff who could see it from his office window called him inside.

  
“He’s been stealing my things,” Derek snapped.

  
The Sheriff took off his standard issued cap and sighed. He looked like a huge weight was on his shoulders.

  
“Well turns out it’s you. I suspected after that second time. It’s textbook dragon courting behaviour if I’ve ever seen one.”

  
“What.” Derek blinked dumbfounded.

  
“It was about time Stiles started looking for a mate,” the Sheriff continued. “Now you have to decide if you want to reciprocate or not.”

Well that explained things. He could forgive the thieving behaviour because he understood mating instincts. They were hard to control.

“How do I do that?”

“Since he initiated the courting you follow his rules—which frankly I'm glad because I do not need dead animals showing up on my doorstep. No offense to Werewolves in general—just that don’t enable Stiles’ hobby, I’m warning you right now. One of the reasons I backed off on eating red meat is because Stiles gets too carried away from the BBQing. A steak does not need to be that well-done. I’ve been secretly eating my red meat from takeout. Every other time I just say I want a good old-fashion salad, good for my heart and all—he eats it up just like that. Good kid he is, no matter how much he steals.”

He reached to the side to open a drawer, taking out a carefully wrapped item. Treating it with great care he unfolded it.

“What you need is something like this. He brings out a beautiful tea cozy with swirls of beautiful and intricate patterns. It belonged to my grandmother. It’s been in the family for generations. I got his mother to agree to date me with this.” He looked at the item fondly. “You need to find something that will cause the same reaction.”

He splutters, “how did he even decide it should be me? We’ve never even talked.”

“A dragon decides how a dragon decides. I don't know what goes on in his head. He gets that from his mother. Once his decision is made, he won’t change his mind and apparently, he chose you. Don’t worry yet. This is only the courting phase; dating comes after and that’s much more serious.”

John looks him straight in the eye, “remember son, you date him you keep him. It's the same for werewolf mates I'm assuming. Don't take it lightly just because he's not a wolf. You haven't seen possessive until you've witnessed a dragon holding on to his treasure.”

***

  
Derek walked into the station the next day with sniffles. Not from a cold, Werewolves didn’t get sick dammit; someone had been walking around with heavy scented perfume.

  
He reaches for his supply of tissues only to find it missing, along with the crochet tissue holder of a wolf his sister made for him. Dammit Stiles! Now is not the time for your courting behaviours! He needed those tissues! But then he finds a bottle of scent neutralizers left in its place. Despite having a penchant for thieving, that was pretty thoughtful.

  
***

He decided to test the waters by leaving the station’s TV remote out on the side of his desk. He was sick of listening to the same song someone left on repeat and if it went conveniently missing, no one could say it was him. By the time he came back, it was gone and in its place was a set of earplugs. Perhaps that was an acceptable gift?

The next day he left a pen out—not his favourite, that one was already stolen—on his desk before heading out for his patrol. When he came back ready to tackle the pile of paperwork, the pen was still there.

  
He frowned. Did Stiles not like pens? Wanting to get the paperwork over with he settled down to tackle that and deal with the other dilemma later. When we reached for his stapler, he noticed it was missing. He’d had that stapler with him for years. In its place was another jelly donut. Fat lot of good that would do him to clip these pages together.

  
Did Stiles prefer certain office supplies and not others? He couldn’t figure out the pattern. He didn't want to fall into the stereotype of assuming dragons only liked shiny and expensive things. He was flying blind here.

Think it through. What would Stiles like?

Then he remembered the Sheriff’s voice when he looked fondly at the tea cozy like it was the most important thing to him.  
Maybe it had to be something more than a random pen. He should have known. If Werewolves could smell emotions then Stiles could probably sense what people treasured most, which explained the theft of his mug and jacket. He resolved to try harder.

  
***

  
It went on for a few weeks. He left things that he had a personal connection to or genuinely loved and it was swapped with something eccentric but equally treasured. Almost like a trade to get to know what the other liked.

It was too strange how his boss was almost encouraging of his courting with Stiles. The Sheriff was passing his desk one day and noticed him twirling a keychain with a bright green scale attached. Stiles’ latest gift after he’d left the spare key to his apartment out.

The Sheriff stopped dead in his tracks and stared.

“Is something wrong?” Derek asked

“Well I’ll be dammed. If Stiles left you that, he must be serious. That’s a dragon’s scale, they don’t give that up easily.

His heartrate shot up.

Derek decided it was time. He made sure to remain on desk duty instead of heading off to patrol that afternoon. He sat on the edge of his desk where they’d been leaving and exchanging their gifts waiting for Stiles to come in.

He entered with his wide shit-eating grin and greeted Tara before glancing around the bullpen. His eyes widened when they landed on his desk. Their eyes met.

He walked straight over and came to a halt in front of Derek. He leaned in going right into his personal space to stare deep in his eyes like Derek was the best fucking treasure he'd ever seen.

“So yes?”

“Yes.”

“Show me in Werewolf speak how you seal the deal.”

Derek goes in close like he’s going for a kiss, then grabs one of Stiles hands and lifts it up bringing it close to his lips. He gives a playful growl before he licks a long, wet stripe upwards from his wrist to his palm.

“I licked it, it’s mine now.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had to write something using the line from this [tumblr post](https://textsfromrandomfandom.tumblr.com/post/57204720104)
> 
> Word building? Explanations of the mystical? *Throws confetti* That's all you get. Writing fanfic is like my version of self-help. Please don't hurt me.


End file.
